The Costa Alegre’s newest big development occupies the lush, green peninsula that forms the southernmost point of Tenacatita Bay. Plans, mostly complete at this writing, include a giant, exclusive jungle country club, based on sales of about 100 parcels averaging 20 acres apiece.

Owners now have access to extensive resort facilities, including golf course, tennis courts, hotel, full spa with temazcal hot room, fine restaurant, heliport, skeet range, equestrian paths, beach club, and small marina. Plans require owner commitment to leaving a sizable fraction of the present forest in its original, pristine state.

The plan seems to be on track. The Tamarindo hinterland remains home to many hundreds of wild creatures, from possumlike armadillos and snorting javelinas to feisty raccoons and warm and fuzzy but wily coatimundis.

Virtually all of the resort facilities have been installed. The meandering, forest-fringed golf course is a wonder all in itself, designed by renowned Robert Trent Jones and David Fleming. It winds for thousands of yards, traversing lush lawns, tricky sand traps, serene ponds, and verdant vine-hung thickets. Greens fee runs about $150 for in-house guests, more than $200 for outside clients from such plush hotels as Grand Bay, Cabo Blanco, Los Angeles Locos, Punta Serena, Las Alamandas, El Careyes, and Las Hadas.

Accommodations at El Tamarindo (tel. 315/351-5032 or 315/351-5052, toll-free Mex. tel. 800/909-4800, fax 315/351-5070, www.eltamarindoresort.com) are in airy pastel stucco-and-tile super-deluxe jungle-edge housekeeping villas. Rates for the several secluded lodgings run about $500–800 d per day. For reservations, contact Mexico Boutique Hotels (toll-free U.S./Can. tel. 800/728-7098, www.mexicoboutiquehotels.com).

Getting There

Get there via the signed side road at Km 8, five miles north of Melaque. After about two miles of winding through the tropical forest, you arrive at the gate, where you must have either a reservation in hand or an appointment before the guard will let you through.